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Show HN - We just built a site that saves lives

watsi.org

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Re: Show HN - We just built a site that saves lives

#161

Post by chaseadam17 »

white_devil wrote: post #103
brittohalloran wrote: post #12

The one thing you need to focus on above all else is transparency and preventing scams. Video of the actual person who needs the treatment would go a long way, as would video updates along the way. I'm thinking an Android app that the locals could use to document the process. If you solve that properly, this will really take off and do a lot of good. Also, you're going to eventually need to take a very small cut of t…

> Also, you're going to eventually need to take a very small cut of the donations to pay living expenses for your volunteers. Not to mention the 11 staff members they have, who probably are not in this just for the joy of saving adorable little African babies.

We have a pretty awesome team. Everyone is part-time, and we are all 100% volunteer. We know that's not sustainable, and we will need to raise money to scale, but it's pretty rad nonetheless! (And we all make way more at our day jobs than we would ever make working full-time for Watsi).

Re: Show HN - We just built a site that saves lives

#162

Post by chaseadam17 »

logn wrote: post #130
brittohalloran wrote: post #12

The one thing you need to focus on above all else is transparency and preventing scams. Video of the actual person who needs the treatment would go a long way, as would video updates along the way. I'm thinking an Android app that the locals could use to document the process. If you solve that properly, this will really take off and do a lot of good. Also, you're going to eventually need to take a very small cut of t…

I was thinking the %100 made sense. And that they rely only on donations specifically to them. So like I'd pay the 10 bucks to the child with cancer. And separately I'd add a dollar for them. I'd like that. Then we can decide how rich we want to make you.

Haha. We're never going to get rich, but the optional "tip" idea is a great one.

Re: Show HN - We just built a site that saves lives

#163

Post by justindocanto »

chaseadam17 wrote: post #158
justindocanto wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also strongly suggest this humblebundle ui on 'Question 2' on the bottom. This would be ideal... HOWEVER, there also is the possibility you end up having not enough for the patients and plenty for the salaries. Maybe make it 'what is the max percent you want to see spent on admin cost'. that way you are allowed to use as much as you'd like to for the patient.

We love the "max percent" idea. We've never thought about looking at it that way. Thank you!

Awesome! Glad I could help. Keep us posted. Also, do you have a newsletter of some sorts? I'd like to signup.

Re: Show HN - We just built a site that saves lives

#164

Post by ryanmolden »

Definitely get the 501c3 info up as well. Some employers will match employee charitable donations. Mine does and I love to use it to "stick it to the man". I would be interested in giving and registering you as a charity eligible for donation matching. Donations can be money, time, software, etc... It can be a great way to "leverage up" your giving.

Re: Show HN - We just built a site that saves lives

#165

Post by revorad »

Wow, thanks for making this!

I just shared this on Facebook but the FB auto summary thing didn't pull up an image as it usually does for links. You should look into fixing that because having a powerful image (as you do on the homepage) will definitely increase visibility and click-through rates.

Re: Show HN - We just built a site that saves lives

#166

Post by radio4fan »

chaseadam17 wrote: post #113
aidos wrote: post #109

And...looks like everything's fully funded now. Between this and the Tesla museum crowdfunding has given me optimism about the world we live in these days.

This has been a little crazy. Way more traffic than we anticipated! We are working on loading our reserve profiles now!

RSS feed of profiles should be high on your priority list. Easy to implement, and bound to be very effective.

Re: Show HN - We just built a site that saves lives

#167

Post by johnconroy »

alexanderh wrote: post #118

This is "Death panels" in a fancy suit. Bid on life saving medical treatment from a thumbnail? By someones looks? and a possibly fabricated story? So now we the internet get to decide who lives and dies? Who has a healthy fulfilling life and who lives with disease and disability? Idk about this idea. Its well intentioned, but oh so wrong all at the same time. This type of charity should be first come first serve to b…

yeah this idea of "the cutest kid gets the money" is the kind of thing I'd worry about. Still a great initiative though

Re: Show HN - We just built a site that saves lives

#168

Post by mjohn »

thuffy wrote: post #146

Does it bother you that you are subsidizing defective genetics and thus making humanity less fit and thus increasing the average level of suffering? You might think you are being nice by decreasing the suffering of an individual, but you are also dooming consciousness to suffer being born into a defective host that otherwise would not have happened if not for your subsidization of defective genetics. I am curious as…

I have never commented before, but I had to reply to this. I assume you are being serious, but hope you just have a twisted sense of humor, or perhaps you have just read too much Schopenhauer recently.

I believe that just because someone is born with a disadvantage or have health issues does not mean they are defective. Everyone has as much a right to life as anyone else.

In support of your beliefs, I would be interested to know your responses to the following questions:

At what point does a person's suffering cause a sufficient decline in the global "average level of suffering" to imply they should not be allowed to reproduce or continue living? Should all sick people be left to die?

Should we serve the depressed arsenic instead of offering counselling and medication?

Should we just execute people of higher than average IQ, since ignorance is bliss?

We all have defects, should we all die to spare the planet?

How do you calculate average suffering? What is the unit of measure?

Does the momentary joy of seeing the birth of a child outweigh years of chronic pain?

Re: Show HN - We just built a site that saves lives

#169

Post by bstpierre »

chaseadam17 wrote: post #29
stephengillie wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your operation could maintain 2 sets of cash flow: one for patient care, and one for administration. Maybe you could qualify for NGO status and get some government to fund some of the administration side. This would be somewhat similar to Costco's model, where most (all?) of employee wages come from membership card fees, not product revenue. With this model, you could still let people donate 100% of their funds to th…

Those are awesome suggestions. Thank you! We were actually just approved as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in the states, and that will open us up to a lot of funding opportunities. But we love the Costco Model idea!

You're getting the paypal charity rate, right? I thought I saw in your faq that you mentioned 2.9%, but the 501c3 rate is 2.2%: https://www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/donations

Re: Show HN - We just built a site that saves lives

#170

Post by joeguilmette »

chaseadam17 wrote: post #161
white_devil wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Also, you're going to eventually need to take a very small cut of the donations to pay living expenses for your volunteers. Not to mention the 11 staff members they have, who probably are not in this just for the joy of saving adorable little African babies.

We have a pretty awesome team. Everyone is part-time, and we are all 100% volunteer. We know that's not sustainable, and we will need to raise money to scale, but it's pretty rad nonetheless! (And we all make way more at our day jobs than we would ever make working full-time for Watsi).

Just sent an email to you guys.

You probably have a deluge of emails so I'm going to harass you from every vector :)

Hey there, my name is Joe and I want to work for you for free.

In the summer I work in the US as a skydiving instructor. In the (north american) winter I travel around, mostly to third world countries in southeast asia.

I want to volunteer and find people in need of medical care. My girlfriend is Filipino and as a native speaker we could really do some good there, as well as in other countries in the area.

I have many years of experience in the wild, the Mongolian steppe (three months on horseback), the Brazilian jungle (4 months on foot), and all of southeast asia.

I can cover all my own expenses and won't need a dime for travel or in country needs.

Let me work for you.

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